https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • Product Guides
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • Product Guides
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

NG-911


News

NENA does not oppose $15 billion NG911 proposal, but wants language ‘corrected,’ CEO says

NENA does not oppose $15 billion NG911 proposal, but wants language ‘corrected,’ CEO says

  • Written by Donny Jackson
  • 21st June 2021

National Emergency Number Association (NENA) CEO Brian Fontes said it is “false” that his organization would oppose legislation that would provide $15 billion in federal funding for next-generation 911 (NG911) deployments, but he reiterated NENA’s stance that some language in the existing proposal should be changed.

NENA’s position on the NG911 funding language in the U.S. House infrastructure bill—known as the Leading Infrastructure For Tomorrow’s America Act, or LIFT America Act—is being mischaracterized by some as opposition, Fontes said during a keynote interview at the virtual Conference for Advancing Public Safety (CAPS) event hosted by Mission Critical Partners. NENA believes there are “many, many good aspects” of the legislation, particularly the $15 billion in federal funds with no requirement of a local match, he said.

Meanwhile, NENA’s concerns about the standards, cybersecurity and advisory-committee language should be perceived as part of the normal discourse associated with the development of legislation, Fontes said.

“I find it tragically amusing that NENA—as an organization—and Brian—personally, as an individual—have been identified and criticized as opposing the legislation or attacking the legislation,” Fontes said. There’s absolutely no truth to that, and it’s offensive to hear it.

“This is absolutely critical, valuable legislation for the advancement of 911 to next-generation 911 for all of us in this country and for all of the millions of tourists that we have each year. So, any type of characterization that NENA would oppose this legislation is—on its face—false.

“Do we support the idea that some of the language needs to be corrected? Absolutely. That’s part of the process, which is to ensure that whatever evolves through the processes is something that will be acceptable, hopefully, to all.”

To date, NG911 funding has been included in the Democrat-led infrastructure bill introduced in the House known as the LIFT America Act, but NG911 language has been conspicuously absent from large spending proposals released by President Joe Biden and Republican leadership.

Language supported by the Public Safety Next Generation 911 Coalition—a group of public-safety organizations that includes APCO that was established last year—is in the LIFT America Act, but officials for NENA, NASNA and iCERT have outlined aspects of the proposal that they find objectionable.

“We’re very happy that legislation has been introduced. We’re very happy with many aspects of that legislation,” Fontes said. “We thought—and still do think—that there are some areas of that legislation that can be improved. And by ‘improvement,’ the improvements really relate to how easy will it be to implement the grant program, based on the language in the statute—that’s kind of my standard for improvement.

“We believe that some of the elements of the LIFT Act, as it’s currently written, deserve revisit and a rethink. Some of it is what I call low-hanging fruit; with others, I just don’t understand why.”

Specifically, Fontes said he would like to see a different representation on the advisory committee that would oversee key aspects of the NG911 funding program proposed in the LIFT America Act.

“I’m not against advisory committees at all …. but this advisory committee would only have about 25% representation from the 911 community and 75% from others in public safety,” he said. “I think there needs to be more of a balance, to be perfectly honest with you.

“And for some reason, there was language in there to try to exempt this advisory group from federal laws governing advisory groups. There has never been a federal advisory committee or group established under law that was exempt from the very laws that would govern advisory committees. I’m really not clear why that was written the way it was in the current language.”

Fontes also said NENA has concerns with some of the cybersecurity language included in the LIFT America Act’s NG911 funding proposal.

“I think those who were advocating for language in the LIFT Act recognize that the language in the act itself dealing with cybersecurity needed to be modified, and we would agree,” Fontes said, without providing any details.

Indeed, representatives of the Public Safety Next Generation 911 Coalition have stated that the intent of the cybersecurity language was designed to mirror the findings of the FCC’s Task Force on Optimized PSAP Architectures (TFOPA) that were released in February 2016 and would support changes reflecting that intent.

When discussing the LIFT America Act NG911 language, Fontes spent the most time detailing issues that NENA has with the treatment of its i3 standard, which is being used widely as 911 centers migrate from legacy networks to the IP-based platform that is expected to be the foundation of NG911. Given this, i3 should identified in the legislation as a “commonly accepted standard” that would be eligible for federal NG911 funding under the LIFT America Act,” he said.

“It [i3] is absolutely a commonly accepted standard,” Fontes said. “In fact, right now, I know of no alternative next-generation 911 standard. I know that ATIS is working on IMS NG911, but that standard is based in large part on the i3 standard, as well.

“I just simply don’t understand why the i3 standard wasn’t addressed explicitly as a commonly accepted standard. Obviously, we would want to see that modified or simply say, ‘Look, rather than specify standards in legislation, let the grant authority under this legislation determine what constitutes acceptable standards for next-generation 911.’ It would be a lot easier, and it’s not time locked. It would allow for innovation over the years, without having to go back to Congress and ask for changes in the legislation.”

In addition, the current language in the NG911 portion of the LIFT America Act would require public-safety organizations that develop standards like NENA and APCO “to kind of go through an extra hoop” by submitting their standards to ANSI, Fontes said. NENA is already doing that with i3 and hopes to receive ANSI approval later this year, but Fontes noted that may not be the case with all technologies associated with NG911.

“There are standards bodies out there, and their products—their standards—are incorporated in the provisioning of next-generation 911, [but those standards] have never gone through an ANSI process nor probably ever will go through an ANSI process, and it’s unclear how you deal with those standards [under the LIFT America Act language],” Fontes said. “GIS is one group, for an example.”

NENA’s input on such issues should not be perceived as opposition to the NG911 funding proposal, according to Fontes.

“It’s just part of the process,” he said. “There may be some legislation that has been introduced that has never been edited or modified, but I think those are more the exception than the rule.

“Now, we have an opportunity to sit down with members of Congress—and all of us in public-safety community—to hammer out some of the changes that we would like to see and that others would like to see … in the statute, so what is ultimately agreed upon can be embraced and supported by everyone.”

Currently, the LIFT America Act is the only legislation introduced that includes federal funding to support the deployment of NG911. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) vowed in April to reintroduce the Next-Generation 911 Act she proposed during the last congressional session—language supported by NENA—but no proposal has surfaced to date. Klobuchar has not indicated whether she would use the same language that was in her 2019 NG911 standalone bill or whether some aspects of the LIFT America Act language would be incorporated.

Fontes declined to speculate on what NG911 legislation from Klobuchar would include, but he said that NENA personnel are “ready, willing and able to work with” Klobuchar and her staff on the language for a standalone bill.

“I have no knowledge of what Sen. Klobuchar … will actually introduce,” Fontes said.

“Going back to the LIFT Act in the House, if there can be agreement on the language among all of us in public safety, then perhaps all of us could then approach Sen. Klobuchar to basically go through what the new language is and how it may differ from the previous Congress’s efforts to fund next-generation 911.”

 

Tags: homepage-featured-4 APCO Applications Coverage/Interference Cybersecurity Dispatch/Call-taking FCC Federal Government/Military Funding Incident Command/Situational Awareness Internet of Things Interoperability IoT/Smart X NENA News NG-911 Policy Public Safety Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet Regional Coordination Security Software Standards State & Local Government Subscriber Devices System Design System Installation System Operation Tracking, Monitoring & Control News

Most Recent


  • AR-based next-gen maps aim to rebalance detail and simplicity
    Every sat-nav user is familiar with the chagrin of missing their turn because the map’s lines and circles don’t resemble the real world. Yandex is blaming maps, not users, for these errors. At its annual conference in December, the company presented its re-designed maps boasting natural-looking 3D objects such as trees, bus stops, colored buildings, […]
  • Vodafone UK starts 'risky' shift to 5G standalone
    Vodafone’s Andrea Dona has unflattering words for some of the IT products that could sit inside his high-performance 5G network. “There are OSS limitations,” said the chief network officer of the UK service provider, referring to operational support systems from unnamed vendors. “If there is full automation on the 5G element, and the OSS is […]
  • ChatGPT may be fastest-growing app of all time, UBS Says
    OpenAI’s immensely popular chatbot ChatGPT may just have broken the record for the fastest-growing app in history, reaching an estimated 123 million monthly active users less than three months after launch. According a research note from UBS shared with AI Business, TikTok took nine months to hit 100 million MAUs and it took Instagram 2.5 years […]
  • Public-safety coalition renews efforts to secure federal NG911 funding
    A coalition of public-safety associations today reiterated its support for federal legislation that would provide the funding needed to pay for 911 centers to migrate from legacy technologies to an IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) platform that is designed to support multimedia communications, as well as traditional voice calls. Representatives of the Public Safety Next Generation […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • New Orleans-area 911 center inks multiyear APEX deal with Carbyne to replace call-handling system
  • APCO, NENA, NASNA speakers cite ‘discussions’ to address NG911 funding issues
  • NENA does not oppose $15 billion NG911 proposal, but wants language ‘corrected,’ CEO says
    Newscan: Dorchester County (S.C.) learning lessons following 911 outage
  • Semiconductor industry growth spikes, but supply remains constrained

Commentary


How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023

3GPP moves Release 18 freeze date to March 2024

18th January 2023

Do smart cities make safer cities?

  • 1
6th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

AR-based next-gen maps aim to rebalance detail and simplicity dlvr.it/Sj4gdM

7th February 2023
UrgentComm

Vodafone UK starts ‘risky’ shift to 5G standalone dlvr.it/Sj4dPJ

7th February 2023
UrgentComm

ChatGPT may be fastest-growing app of all time, UBS Says dlvr.it/Sj4NfL

7th February 2023
UrgentComm

Public-safety coalition renews efforts to secure federal NG911 funding dlvr.it/ShwGfn

4th February 2023
UrgentComm

Newscan: Cyberattacks on DoE national labs draw lawmaker scrutiny dlvr.it/Shvpw3

3rd February 2023
UrgentComm

The shine begins to wear off 5G private wireless dlvr.it/Shth0P

3rd February 2023
UrgentComm

Phishers trick Microsoft into granting them ‘verified’ Cloud Partner status dlvr.it/Shqngn

2nd February 2023
UrgentComm

Shapeshifting robot can morph from a liquid to a solid dlvr.it/Shqk9K

2nd February 2023

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.